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Karen Cooper
| continuity = Night of the Living Dead | image = | type = | gender = | base of operations = Parkville, Pennsylvania | known relatives = Harry Cooper (father); Helen Cooper (mother) | born = 1957 Date approximated based upon the age of actress Kyra Schon. This date applies to the original version of Karen Cooper only. | died = December, 1967 A wall calendar inside the house indicates the date in which the events of the film take place. | 1st appearance = Night of the Living Dead (1968) | actor = Kyra Schon Heather Mazur Alynia Phillips Luann De Soto }} Karen Cooper was a supporting character featured in the 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead. The character was re-imagined for Tom Savini's 1990 remake of the film Night of the Living Dead under the name Sarah Cooper. She was played by actress Heather Mazur. The character was retooled a third time for the 2006 movie Night of the Living Dead 3D, this time played by Alynia Phillips. Another remake, Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D reprised the character once again and she was played by Luann De Soto. Despite being played by four different actresses to date, Kyra Schon's original take on the character remains the most memorable amongst fans. A still photo of the undead Karen Cooper has become a veritable trademark of the franchise as a whole and has been reproduced on numerous film posters, DVD covers, t-shirts and even lunch boxes. Biography Original version Karen Cooper was the young daughter of Harry and Helen Cooper. In 1967, while traveling across rural Pennsylvania, the Coopers were attacked by a horde of flesh-eating zombies that managed to overturn their car. The Coopers escaped from them, but Karen suffered a severe bite on the arm from one of the zombies. They escaped on foot and traveled more than a mile until they came to a farmhouse. The house was seemingly deserted and Harry brought Karen down into the cellar. He sealed off the entire room to protect themselves from any zombies that might break into the house. Karen fell gravely ill as a result of her injury and could barely remain conscious. Harry and Helen placed her prone body on a table and kept a steady vigil over her. As it turned out, they met two other survivors named Tom and Judy who agreed to stay with them in the cellar. A short time later, two more survivors arrived; a man named Ben and a panic-stricken woman named Barbra. Through the course of the evening, another group of zombies learned of the survivors' presence and made repeated attempts to break into the house. In the early morning hours, Karen fell victim to her injuries and died. Minutes later, she rose as one of the undead. Her father, now suffering from a bullet injury, came back down into the cellar to check on her. Karen attacked him, and tore at his throat with her teeth. Her mother came downstairs as well, but when she had seen what her daughter had become, she collapsed, frozen in fear. The zombified Karen took a trowel off the wall and stabbed her mother to death with it. She went upstairs and tried to bite Ben, but Ben managed to push her away. With the coming of dawn, a posse of armed police deputies came to Parkville and began exterminating the zombies. Presumably, Karen was captured and destroyed. Notes & Trivia * In one of the earlier script treatments, 's last name was Tinsdale. * Actress Kyra Schon was the daughter of Karl Hardman, who played her fictional father Harry Cooper in the original Night of the Living Dead. * Kyra Schon also doubled as the dead body at the top of the stairs that Ben drags away. The close-up shots however were a dressed up model skull. External Links * References ---- Category:1957 character births Category:1967 character deaths Category:Zombies Category:Characters who are killed by zombies